Don’t learn the hard way

Concerning the Vineyard Wind undersea cable: We, your neighbors in nearby Falmouth, have learned the hard way, the way that has severely damaged the financial balance of our town, that wind power benefits are an extreme disillusionment. Instead of reaping rewards of free energy from the wind, we have garnered millions of dollars of debt for which our taxpayers are liable. Like $7 million, or $3,500 for each and every household in Falmouth. Wind power is not free, and certainly not cheap. The two Falmouth turbines stand unmoving as monumental mistakes.

Ocean arrays are even more uneconomical than land-based systems. Corrosive salt water and much higher maintenance expenses, low-frequency noise and infrasound travel even greater distances over water, plus unknown potential adverse effects on fish and other ocean organisms.

Most pay their ever-increasing exorbitant electric bill without even being aware of the hidden costs resulting from government subsidies. Instead of adding to the hopeless intermittency of wind power, we need pipelines from the North Dakota natural gas fields.